Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
The third installment of Medal of Honor Games, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, is a World War II First Person Shooter based on a modified Quake III Engine that was used for the game Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.². This game is about an OSS operative named Mike Powell in the North African and European Theatres of Operation. This game was developed by 2015, inc. and published by EA Electronic Arts. It was released January 22, 2002 in North America on the Windows and Linux PC, and the Apple MAC OS. It was rated by the ESRB T for Teen and 15+ by ELSPA. It was also rated 12+ by PEGI. The original version was banned in Germany due to the portrayal of Swastikas, a censored version was rated 18+ by USK. The latest multiplayer version out for MoH:AA is 1.11 Playable Character Lieutenant Mike Powell was an American soldier and OSS operative originally from the 1st Ranger Battalion, although he's transferred to the 2nd Ranger Battalion shortly before Operation Overlord. Missions You play as Lieutenant Powell throughout six different missions during which you're either assigned to the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions or an undercover operative of the Office of Strategic Services behind enemy lines. You get to participate in historical events such as the Allied landings in Africa and the invasion of Normandy. *'Lighting the Torch (November 7, 1942):' Lt. Powell begins his first mission as an OSS agent in North Africa. In the Algerian coastal town of Arzew, Powell is part a ranger squad in a rescue mission to recover the SAS commando Major Jack Grillo. The squad is ambushed and only Powell survives. After saving Grillo, he must help complete Grillo's mission which includes securing the beach areas and taking out the local air field. Powell must finally "light the torch" atop a lighthouse to signal the beginning of Operation Torch. *'Scuttling the U-529 (February 12, 1943):' Powell is in Norway to scuttle the U-529, and destroy a prototype Naxos radar detector, a device that would shift the balance of power in the Atlantic back to the Nazis. After the untimely death of Major Grillo, the mission must be fought by Powell alone. This is one of two missions where Powell must go incognito, disguised as a German Officer, to enter the German submarine. *'Operation Overlord (June 6–7, 1944):' After his outstanding handling of the previous mission under difficult circumstances, Lt. Powell is reassigned to the front lines to lead a platoon of solders in Operation Overlord. He must first survive the assault on Omaha Beach. Later on, in coordinating the Allies' establishing of a beachhead in Normandy he must go with Captain Ramsey to find paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division and assist them in taking out a battery of Nebelwerfers outside Carentan. This level has become legendary in the course of WWII shooters and is heralded as the most intense mission of the entire game. This mission is also noted to be very long (compared to the other missions) and a test of endurance for the player. *'Behind Enemy Lines (June 22, 1944):' Powell, back as a lone OSS agent, goes behind enemy lines to gather intelligence on German infantry movements and gain information on the German's rumored "King Tiger Tank." He must first rescue a reconnaissance pilot and escort him to the safe house. Upon arrival, he meets Manon Batiste, an undercover agent who assists Powell in his objectives. He must infiltrate a mansion complex and gather various information and documents. This is one of the few points of open-ended gameplay in MoHAA where any of the objectives regarding to the mansion can be done in any order. *'Day of the Tiger (August 20, 1944):' With the Allies quickly taking hold of France, they have their eyes of the city of Brest, France's second most important port city. With the information gathered in the last mission, an Allied tank crew is put together by Hargrove to steal a King Tiger Tank and take it to Brest. Powell must protect the crew and help steal the tank. This mission is home to the infamous "Sniper Town" level notorious for it's hard difficulty. Once Powell and the tank crew reach the tank, they must drive it through a slew of German opposition including Tiger Tanks, Panzerschreck infantry, Flak 88s, and MG42s. Once in Brest, Powell must protect the bridge leading into the center of the city, and the King Tiger Tank, by sniping the opposition that attempt to blow it up and calling in air support to challenge the other tanks across the river. *'Return to Fort Schmerzen (January 18, 1945):' Powell must go to the restored Fort Schmerzen and destroy it. Schmerzen (pain in German) is, ironically, the very mustard gas production facility where Lt. James Patterson gassed everyone in the first Medal of Honor game. Upon several strategic preemptive attacks on the Fort, Powell must infiltrate the Fort with a group of Army Rangers and plant explosives and open gas lines around the Fort. Powell must escape the fort quickly as the building falls down on top of him. This is the second mission where Powell goes undercover as a German officer while he steals an Stg-44. Expansion Packs * Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead is the first expansion pack. In it, you play as Jack Barnes, a paratrooper in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. During the campaign, you fight in Normandy, Belgium and Berlin, specifically during D-Day, the Battle of Bastonge and the Fall of Berlin. Along the way, you will be assisted by Americans, British and Russians. * Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough is second expansion pack to Allied Assault. In it, you play as John Baker, a soldier in the 34th Infantry Division. During the campaign you fight in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, specifically during the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the Fall of Bizerte, Operation Husky and the Battles of Monte Cassino and Anzio. Medals *Legion of Merit - Earned by rescuing both a US and a UK POW on the second mission. *Norwegian War Cross with Sword - Earned by stealing a manifest found on the U-Boat on the 2nd mission in the 2nd campaign. *American Campaign Medal - Earned by completing the Omaha Beach stage in 3rd campaign. *Good Conduct Medal - Earned by destroying two King Tiger Tanks on the last mission using confiscated explosives in the last stage of 4th campaign. *US Distinguished Service Medal- Earned by allowing all three US tank crews to survive and board King Tiger tank on the 2nd mission in the 5th campaign. *Army Commendation Medal -Earned by entering the main fort area with less than 5 casualties on the 6th mission in the 6th campaign. *Bronze Star Medal - Earned by finishing the campaign on easy difficulty. *Silver Star - Earned by completing the game on normal difficulty *US Distinguished Service Cross - Earned by completing the game on hard difficulty. * Despite the fact that the game being entitled as 'Medal of Honor - Allied Assault', its protagonist Lt. Michael Powell, did not receive the Congressional Medal of Honor during the course of the game. Whether Powell became a recipient of MOH after the war remains unknown. Multiplayer Types *'Free for All' - A classic Deathmatch where every player fights for his own. *'Team Deathmatch' - Where Allies team faces off against Axis teams. *'Round Based' - Same as Team Deathmatch, but players do not respawn after being killed. The team which has the last man standing wins the round. *'Objective' - Allies or Axis have to plant one or more bombs at a given location and the other team have to defend this location. *'Tug of War ''(New with Spearhead Expansion)' - Each team have a set of objectives which can be attacking or defending. Some objectives can be disabled and re-enabled by the other team, like turning on and off a switch. The winning team is the one who finish all their objectives. Round ends of this gamemode have a quick cutscene where we can see the winning team executing the losing team. *'Liberation (New with Breakthrough Expansion)' - Each team has a jail where going killed players after respawning. Alive players can open the jail to his team to released them. The winner team is the one who have send all the enemy team to jail. Maps Weapons German * Walther P38 (multiplayer only without cheats or mods) * Karabiner 98 kurz * Karabiner 98 (Bolt Action Sniper Rifle) * MP-40 * Model 24 Stielhandgranate * Panzerschreck * StG-44 * MG-42 Allied * M12 Shotgun * M1 Garand * M1903/A5 Springfield Sniper Rifle * M1 Thompson * M1911 Colt .45 Pistol * M1 Bazooka * M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle * Mark II Fragmentation Grenades * M1919A4 Browning .30 Caliber Light Machine Gun * Hi Standard Silenced Pistol Reception The game has received extremely positive reviews from game critics. Critics praised the game for smart AI, smooth gameplay, atmospheric sound work, detailed graphics, and the sense of realism. It is often regarded as a milestone in the development of modern FPS games. On Metacritic, the game has a score of 91 out of 100. Gallery MOHAA 2011-04-12 16-05-41-24.jpg MOHAA 2011-04-10 16-05-09-87.jpg MOHAA 2011-04-10 15-47-41-40.jpg MOHAA 2011-04-10 03-04-19-91.jpg MOHAA 2011-04-09 03-22-10-14.jpg External Links *Medal of Honor: Allied Assault on Wikipedia'' *''Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC on Metacritic'' Trivia *Many lines in Allied Assault are direct references to the movie Saving Private Ryan. *Numerous scenes in Allied Assault were also designed to recreate Saving Private Ryan. Most notably, the landing at Omaha Beach and the sniping at the bridge. *Some characters in the game are based on the characters in Saving Private Ryan. ''For example, Captain Ramsey is based on Captain John Miller. **Part of the reason for the above is that Steven Spielberg, the creator of the ''Medal of Honor series, directed Saving Private Ryan. *Enemies are able to lean and go prone, while the player is unable to perform these actions **The player can lean in multiplayer, but not in singleplayer. The reason for this is unknown. **The ability to lean is restored in the expansions Spearhead ''and ''Breakthrough. * Melee attack, triggered by right mouse button by default, is limited to pistol whip in single player campaign, however in the expansions it can be performed with any non-sniper gunnery. **AI soldiers seem absolutely oblivious to the screaming of their comrades under (repeated) melee attack. *The interior of Fort Schmerzen is an exact remake of the same structure in original Medal of Honor. *This is the first'' Medal of Honor'' where Lt. Patterson never makes a personal appearance in either the campaign or in any unlockable game-modes. Although, his name is mentioned during the briefing for Return to Fort Schmerzen. *When Powell shoots the gas tank, a German scientist makes a mention that it was foolish to do so. He might be talking to fellow Germans (blaming them for shooting at Powell), or to Powell (not realizing Powell has a gas mask). *Unlike many of the earlier protagonists from the Medal of Honor franchise, Powell hasn't returned or been referred to since Allied Assault. *The medic mechanism seen in the Omaha level and in Mission 5 would later become the primary life restore mechanism of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. *It's almost a miracle that Powell was not killed at Omaha even though all the men in front of him on the boat were instantly mowed down when they tried to get out. *In the Omaha level, Powell can pick a Springfield up in a crater. However, how the Springfield ended up in the crater mentioned above is not logical; technically, no American troops would reach there before the barbed wire is breached. *It is possible to carry both an M1 Garand and a scoped Kar-98k in Mission 4. * In the singleplayer campaign, it is not possible to drop a weapon, even when it is out of ammo. ** Since an American Pistol (either a M1911 .45 or a Hi-Standard Silenced) is supplied to Powell at the beginning of every mission, there is no way to obtain a German P38 pistol throughout the entire campaign without using cheats. ** If the player tries to obtain weapons that are not supposed to appear in certain mission via cheats(for example summoning a StG44 in Arzew or Norway), the weapon will fire normally, but gunshot won't be heard, because the weapon sound is not programmed to be loaded into memory. * During the campaign Powell has only one chance to obtain and use standard German Kar98K rifle (without scope): During the Omaha stage, if the player choose to ignore the Springfield Sniper rifle in the crater under the cliff, it is possible to take a fallen enemy's 98K. *The abbreviation of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is MOHAA, is an anagram of OMAHA. *In Hard difficulty, the enemies at the Manor House are God-like. They know the player is still alive (even if they haven't seen him). Considering Powell is using German weapons, it would appear that they would think he got killed and would seem to wait for a report back from the sentries. This is, however, not the case, and they will re-activate the alarms sending more troops after Powell. **The player can't ignore the above-mentioned alarms as it would cause Powell to be overrun, but if they turn them off, then the player might end up using up all their ammo given that they will have to keep going back (it would be more beneficial to just be overrun and hope you can survive and turn off the alarm where it was actually activated). *AI Snipers have near 100% accuracy even on moving targets. Colonel Hargrove was right to call them "truly skilled snipers." *Though a pathway is given that would suggest the developers initially planned for the entrance into the Manor House to be completely stealth, it is cut-off at the end by numerous guards watching the gates. *Sometimes Powell won't jump on the back of the truck in the second level of Mission 4 and the player will have to fight their way to the tank yard. **If the player jumps on the back of the truck, it takes far longer for it to pull away than if the player didn't. *Even though Powell has been on numerous covert operations before Mission 4, Manon Batiste still treats him as if he doesn't have any experience with these. *Considering main Allied forces haven't landed yet, it is peculiar that Maj. Grillo drives an Allied jeep to pick up Powell. *For some reason, subtitles are sometimes given when Powell hears something in German, but it's not always the case. As introduced in the game manual, Powell understands German (he is a Duke University graduate of German major), so it would seem logical this should happen all of the time. *The German scientists working on the Naxos Prototype don't trust Powell, particularly the one that cordially greets him. *Powell is a mute character throughout the game. However at the end of Mission 2 the player can hear the phrase, "I think I wet myself." It is not known if this line was spoken by a soldier coming to the rescue, or by Powell himself. *At the end of Mission 2, the men in the train don't voluntarily provide covering fire, unless they are shot. *There is an option to turn Crosshairs off, even if there is no other function to aim, like iron sights. *The taunt line "I've seen French school girls shoot better." is a possible reference to Manon Batiste. *A burning German railgun Greta can be seen in the level 'Diverting the Enemy' and that level even takes place in exactly the same area as Rail Canyon and Meeting Greta in ''Medal of Honor'', in Normandy, France, complete with many machine gun bunkers (as seen in Rail Canyon) and a smoking Greta ''railgun at the end of the rail road tracks. The level occurs on June 22, 1944, one week after Jimmy Patterson destroyed ''Greta. *In the level 'Rendezvous with the Resistance', Powell must rescue the pilot of the plane carrying the G3 Operations officer from Medal of Honor, just days before Jimmy Patterson was recruited by the OSS to recover information on the officer. *In the first level of Omaha Beach, if "no clip" cheat is activated after the bunker's back door is opened, it is possible to see a trench at the back of the bunker with 2 artillery, with glowing indicators for explosives. This might be an objective cut from the final game, which is further supported by the fact that the captain had discussed taking out the artillery before reaching the trench. *The OSS office featured as the background in the Main Menu was the same one as in original Medal of Honor, only it was not populated in MOHAA. *During the landing at Omaha, allied troops will continually respawn from the sea and advance. These reinforcements will not go further than the player's current position. *Beta versions of "Save" and "Rewards" menu icons can be found in game files. ** The folder says "Patterson, James." Unknown does that in the beta version the main character was not a Powell or alluding to the fact that Powell shares the office with Patterson. Bugs & Glitches Mission 1 * Grillo tends to hold a bottle of medicine in an awkward stance, till the end of chapter. Mission 4 * The guide arrow on the compass does not function properly in the manor. Mission 5 * Occasionally a glitch will prevent the player from calling an airstrike on the last King Tiger. uk:Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Category:Games